Comparescan User Guide

Comparescan Graphical User Interface

Menu Bar

The Comparescan Window contains the following menus:

■“File Menu” on page 38

■“Tools Menu” on page 39

■“View Menu” on page 42

■“Window Menu” on page 43

File Menu

The File menu contains the following items:

■Open—Opens a Comparescan binary error database file that was previously saved with the -save command-line option, the savedata rules command, File—Save, or

File—Save as.

■Close—Closes the Comparescan window. If this Comparescan window is the only open Comparescan window, then Comparescan exits.

■Save—Saves a Comparescan error database to a file. This binary file stores all of the data that is currently contained in the Comparescan window.

■Save as—Has the same functionality as File—Save, but lets you specify the name and location of the error database file.

■Preferences—Opens the Comparescan Preferences form. See “Preferences Form” on page 38 for a description of that form.

■Exit—Exits Comparescan.

Preferences Form

In this release, the only field on the Comparescan Preferences form that you need to use is the Signalscan Command field at the top of the form. You may also want to toggle the Prompt before exiting button at the bottom of the form.

The Preferences form is shown in Figure 4-2 on page 39.

Comparescan User Guide

Comparescan Graphical User Interface

Figure 4-2 Preferences Form

If you receive an error message that Signalscan Waves cannot be found when you double-click on a compare error in the Comparescan window, you must open the Comparescan Preferences form and reset the executable path to Signalscan Waves. To open the Comparescan Preferences form, select File—Preferences. Enter the path to the Signalscan Waves executable in the Signalscan Command field at the top of the form. You can also include Signalscan Waves command-line options in this field.

When you click OK on the Comparescan Preferences form, Comparescan writes the new preferences to your preferences file (~/.comparescan.pref, by default); the new preferences then immediately take effect.

Tools Menu

The Tools menu lets you choose the Comparescan command-line options and input files for a given comparison, and then run and control the comparison. The Tools menu contains the following selections:

Comparescan User Guide

Comparescan Graphical User Interface

■Compare Options—Opens the Compare Options form. See “Compare Options Form” on page 40 for a description of this form. This menu option has the same functionality as the Options button.

■Run Comparison—Starts the comparison that you defined on the Compare Options form. This menu option has the same functionality as the Run button.

■Stop Comparison—Aborts the currently running comparison. This menu option has the same functionality as the Stop button.

■Pause Comparison—Pauses the currently running comparison. This menu option has the same functionality as the Pause button.

■Continue Comparison—Resumes a paused comparison, starting at the time at which you paused it. This menu option has the same functionality as the Continue button.

Compare Options Form

In the examples in Chapter 3, “Comparescan Tutorial,” you specify the input and output files and the compare rules by using command-line options and a rules file. This is usually the most efficient way to specify options and filenames to generate a Comparescan error database.

If you want to set Comparescan options and filenames in the Comparescan GUI instead of on the command line or in a rules file, you use the Compare Options form. To open this form, either click the Options button or choose Tools—Compare Options from the Comparescan menu. The Compare Options form displays your most recent selections, as shown in Figure 4-3 on page 41. Your most recent selections are stored in your state file (~/.comparescan.state, by default).

Comparescan User Guide

Comparescan Graphical User Interface

Figure 4-3 Compare Options Form

Enter the name of the control,

or Golden file.

.

Enter the name of the file to compare to the Golden file.

Enter the name of the rules file to use during the comparison.

Specify your comparison parameters.

Enter the names of your golden and secondary database filenames, and the name of the rules file in the appropriate fields on the Compare Options form. Click the Browse button to scan your directories for these files, as shown in Figure 4-4 on page 42.